


tie your heart at night to mine, love

by galacticdrift (Ancalime)



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Literal Sleeping Together, M/M, Mutual Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-06
Updated: 2019-12-14
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:08:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21687346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ancalime/pseuds/galacticdrift
Summary: Caduceus doesn't have a bedroom in the Xorhaus.It wasn't a problem, before.
Relationships: Caduceus Clay/Fjord
Comments: 58
Kudos: 629





	1. Chapter 1

At first, Fjord's not sure what wakes him; he stares up at the ceiling above him with a vague, sleepy sense of bafflement. He'd been dreaming, something pleasant, for which he sends wordless thanks to the Wildmother. He'd dreamed about-- he flushes, out of habit, though there had been nothing even the slightest bit untoward going on. Just him and Caduceus, sipping tea together under the tree in the rooftop garden.

The tree. The roof. Fjord blinks, fog clearing from his mind. It's raining outside; he can hear the patter of it against his window. He frowns.

The sound of the wind picks up as soon as he opens the door to the tower, rain beating against the wooden hatch that leads to the garden. The waterlogged wood has expanded, and Fjord has to brace himself on the ladder and give it a shove to get it open.

He finds Caduceus curled up in the imperfect shelter of the tree's roots, wrapped up in several thick blankets. Above and all around them, the garden rustles, tousled by the wind and rain, and though it's not entirely unlike the sound of the ocean, Fjord still isn't sure how Cad manages to sleep through it.

"Caduceus," he says, not too loud, trying not to startle him in waking. He runs a hand over Cad's shoulder blade.

The reaction is instant and violent -- before he even recognizes that Cad's awake, Fjord is flat on his back on the wet stone, a hand around his throat and another in his face starting to form the motions of a spell.

"Easy," he manages to croak, and Cad lets him go, falling back with an expression of horror, his ears plastered against his skull.

"Fjord! I'm so sorry, I didn't realize--"

"No, no, it's all right, I should have been more careful about waking you." Despite his reassurances as he stands and brushes himself off, he can see Cad's hands shaking even at this distance, and he doesn't think it's only from the damp and the chill. "It's _miserable_ out here, Caduceus, wouldn't you be more comfortable sleeping inside tonight?"

He won't look Fjord in the eye. "The bedrooms are all occupied."

It's not a denial, Fjord notes, though it's also not entirely true. They did set aside a guest room -- though he thinks they never got around to actually putting a bed in it.

"Share mine." It comes out of his mouth before he's even consciously formed the notion, much less stopped to interrogate it. Still. He won't take it back, once offered.

"What?" Cad's ears perk up, then drop again. "No, I can't--"

"Caduceus, we're roommates on the road all the time. I assure you I don't mind." Fjord waves a hand at the weather buffeting the garden around them. "I'd much rather share my room than think of you trying to sleep all cold and rain-soaked up here."

"...All right." Cad nods and lets Fjord's proffered hand him pull him to his feet, preceding him down the ladder to the second story. At Fjord's bedroom door he pauses until Fjord shoos him inside. "Go on."

There's a clean towel on his dresser, and he slips past Cad to grab it and turn up the lantern next to his bed. "Here-- you should dry off, you don't want to get the blankets wet. I'll go find a couple more, I know you feel the cold more than me."

Pressing the towel into Cad's hands, Fjord ducks back out into the hallway to scour the guest room and linen closet, where he does manage to find some spare blankets and a pillow. As he's wandering the upstairs, he nearly collides with Jester. Before he can even begin to wonder what _she's_ doing awake at this hour, she takes in his appearance and the blankets bundled in his arms. Her expression shifts from embarrassment to concern.

"Fjord, are you getting sick? If you're that cold--"

"No, I'm fine, I'm just getting some extra blankets to sleep on. Caduceus was trying to sleep in the rain, I told him he should share my room." If he mentions the surprise strangulation he knows Jester's going to pry. Her concern for all of them is sweet, but he can tell in his gut that Cad doesn't want it brought to attention.

Which, he consequently realizes, means _he's_ going to need to be the one to talk to Cad about it.

"Oh." Jester frowns.

"I know. I have no idea why he was even trying to sleep up there in the first place in weather like this."

"He hates causing a fuss, you know?" Jester says quietly. "That's why we have to take care of him even when he doesn't ask for help. Because he'll never ask if there's a chance anyone else needs help instead."

"Yeah. I know." He and Jester share a solemn nod; from the piercing look she gives him he gets the distinct impression that she's guessed at least some part of what he's not saying. A moment later a sunny smile spreads across her face.

"Okay. I'm glad you're taking care of him, Fjord." He can hear the layers and layers going unspoken. It's been a while since the two of them have had time to sit down and talk. Fjord makes a mental note to find some in the next few days. "Good night."

"Good night, Jester."

When Fjord returns, Cad is still standing in the middle of his room, looking about aimlessly. The click of the latch makes him jump -- Fjord catches the tail end of him whirling around to face the door.

"Here, I found a couple more blankets." In the lantern light, even dim as it is, Caduceus looks so _tired_. Fjord sets the blankets down. "Caduceus, before we go back to sleep. Is something troubling you? You seem-- more on edge than usual, even aside from, ah, being startled awake just now."

"I'm sorry, I--"

"No, no, it's fine, I promise, just-- let me speak for a moment. I won't press. You don't ever have to talk about it if you don't want to, but I just need to make sure you know that I'm here for you. If there's anything I can do to help, anything at all, please, let me know."

Fjord approaches, slowly, bringing his arms up directly in Cad's field of view until he can clasp his shoulders and look him square in the face. Cad sways a little between his hands. He blinks and then starts, looking around, alarm dilating his pupils until he can confirm that the room is empty.

"Thank you, Fjord." Cad glances down, his voice hesitant. Fjord can almost watch him consider what he's going to say, how much to admit.

"It was the attack in Pumat's shop. Ever since then, I've been-- uneasy. About what might be behind me." Reaching up, he rubs at his shoulder, and Fjord realizes that with his unfocused gaze, he's thinking of that first brutal strike, the assassin's daggers sinking deep into his back. It makes something ache in him, a sympathetic pain deep in his own chest. "I thought-- I thought the tree would, I don't know. I hoped it would feel-- safer."

"So when I woke you up--"

"I was mostly asleep. I panicked."

"Yes, of course. Anyone would. I couldn't have picked a worse way to wake you, I'm sorry." Humming under his breath, Fjord looks over at the bed. "If you want the whole bed, it's yours, I was going to stretch out by the fire. But-- I suppose that's not going to help much, is it?"

Caduceus shakes his head, every line of his body drooping. "Probably not."

"All right. I have a better idea." Fjord pats him on the shoulder before stepping away. Grabbing the extra blankets, he flips them out over the foot of the bed, then tosses the extra pillow at the head. Sliding in under the covers, he shifts all the way across the bed until he's almost pressed against the wall at the far edge. "Come on. Get in. And turn the lantern down."

Cad twists the knob on the lantern and slowly gets into the bed, looking doubtful.

"Are you able to put your back to me? Or is it too much?" A strange look crosses Cad's face, but he shakes his head and rolls over onto his side. Fjord reaches out past Cad with his arm, leaving it hovering there at first for him to see. "Okay?"

When Cad nods his agreement, Fjord lets his arm drop, slowly, to wrap around his stomach, and scoots closer until he's pressed right up against Cad's back, his knees tucked in behind Cad's. Fjord can feel tremors passing through him in regular waves.

"There. Now you're warm, and dry, and you've got someone safe behind you. And if anyone sneaks up on us both and stabs _me_ in the back, you'll be here to heal me. Work for you?" Fjord asks.

When they share rooms on the road, it's a fairly casual 'you take your half and I'll take mine' arrangement -- though being taller than most beds are built for, Cad tends to encroach on Fjord's space to some degree anyway. This intentional intimacy, though, is something altogether different.

Cad hums, and Fjord feels a hand wrap around his forearm. "Yeah. This is really nice. Thank you, Fjord."

His voice is low, with a particular soft undercurrent to it that Fjord doesn't think he's ever heard before. The tremor Fjord felt in him earlier has mostly subsided. He tucks his face in a little closer, risking suffocation in Cad's hair until he's almost brushing the back of his neck with his nose. "Rest well, Caduceus."


	2. Chapter 2

The rains abate somewhat the next day. They've rarely stayed in the Xorhaus for more than a night or two at a time before, but the Bright Queen has requested their attendance at a strategy meeting in two days, and they don't really have anything both pressing enough and quick enough that they can slip out of Rosohna to take care of it in the interim.

Also, she asked them not to leave.

Cad's taken the occasion to go all-out for dinner, and everyone is stuffed and groaning as they polish off the last of the food.

"I _can't move_." Beau is flat on her back on one of the benches, hands clutching her stomach. Jester slumps over the table and moans in agreement, muffled by the mouthful she's still chewing on. Even Yasha is in quiet raptures over the last dregs on her plate.

"You can't do some monk shit to digest faster?" Straddling a bench, Fjord props an elbow on the table and rests his head in his hand, eyes closed, a lazy smile lingering on his face. He can probably count on one hand the number of times he's had an opportunity like this -- more good food than he can possibly eat laid out before him, safe and happy in the company of those he cares about -- and he's determined to savor the feeling.

"Fuck you." Beau's smiling, though; he can hear it.

"Caduceus, this was all incredible, truly." Cracking one eye open, Fjord looks over at him; even he looks full and satisfied as he takes a sip from his mug of water. "You really outdid yourself."

"Yasha helped, too."

"Oh, no, all I did was peel and chop up vegetables."

"They were very-- oh, hang on," Jester pauses to let out a truly impressive belch. "Very neatly peeled and chopped. You did _great_ , Yasha."

"Thank you." Her small, grateful response is only audible because everyone in the room is semi-comatose instead of talking over each other as they usually would be.

Hearing a bench scrape against the floor, followed by footsteps, Fjord opens one eye again and spots Cad making his way back toward the kitchen. "Caduceus. You're not thinking of starting to clean up, are you?"

"Uh, yeah, I--"

"Everyone knows the rule: cook doesn't have to clean. Come sit back down."

" _Does_ everyone know this rule? _I_ didn't know this rule." Beau furrows her brow at him and makes an abortive attempt to sit up.

"Your family was terrible, they don't count. Who does the dishes in the Cobalt Soul?" Nott sniffs. She's sitting cross-legged on top of one of the tables, picking at her teeth with a skewer. "Yeza _always_ did the dishes when I cooked."

"We have-- staff for that shit."

"I bet your _staff_ knows the rule, then."

Fjord hears Cad settle on the bench next to him with a chuckle as Nott and Beau debate the universality of the cooking/cleaning rule.

"Myself and-- I don't know, Caleb will handle dishes. Caleb, you in?" Fjord calls.

"Ja, of course, I will help with the washing up," Caleb manages, trailing off into more Zemnian that none of them, excepting perhaps Beau, understand.

"A lot of effort went into making all this, Caduceus." Fjord tilts forward to clap him on the knee. "Sit here and relax for a while, let us appreciate your hard work."

"Thank you, Fjord." Blinking at him, Caduceus looks almost bashful as he settles his hand over Fjord's, but he can see an edge of wistfulness to the expression as well. "It's been a long time since I've been able to do a spread like this. A big family meal."

Fjord flips his hand over and squeezes Cad's before hauling himself to his feet. "Caleb! We have work to do. Caduceus, we promise the kitchen will be clean again by morning."

Yasha tries to get up as well, but Fjord waves her off. "Nope, you helped cook too. Pass your plate over and sit back down."

Caleb clearly knows kitchen rules; when they've brought all the platters and plates and dishes and bowls into the kitchen and Fjord takes up position at the sink to wash, he rummages around in a drawer until he finds a clean towel, drying and stacking everything that comes his way.

Most of the dishes he handles through mundane means, but here and there Fjord looks at a big, messy pot or a casserole dish with baked-on crust and hefts it, lifting an eyebrow at Caleb, who mutters a few words, points at it, and renders it spotless in a swirl of arcane magic. It takes some time to work through everything, but they pass it largely in silence, neither one feeling pressure to offer up much in the way of small talk. When they finish and Fjord's satisfied with the state of the kitchen, the hour on the clock comes as a surprise.

"Caleb, I apologize, I didn't mean to cut into your evening research time. Thank you for helping." Fjord waves a hand at the clean dishes.

"Of course. We all live here, we are all responsible for it being, hrm, livable, you know?" Caleb's mouth twists. "You are not wrong, by the way. You make a good point about showing our appreciation for Herr Clay. We don't do it enough."

"Mmm," Fjord nods, accepting the towel Caleb offers to dry off his arms. "Well, first we have to recognize our own shortcomings before we can work on them, right?"

"Ja. Indeed." Fjord follows Caleb out of the kitchen. The dining room is empty and Fjord can pick up various small noises of activity throughout the house. He putters around for a while, drifting from library to training room to war room without finding any one thing his attention latches on to, and as night settles over the house, finds himself heading, as he often has of late, for the tower.

Through the open hatch to the rooftop, he hears low voices -- well, he hears _a_ low voice, and long enough breaks for the appropriate responses, even if the words themselves are too soft to make out.

"Knock knock, am I intruding?" He calls up, rapping on the side of the ladder. It would be unlike Cad not to shut the hatch if he or Yasha wanted to keep a conversation private, but he always likes to make sure.

"No, please, come on up." Yasha lifts her voice to respond, and Fjord makes his way up the ladder. "I was just about to take my leave."

In her early days back, that might have been a polite fiction to let her get out of his company, but they've gotten to-- an understanding. Fjord's been betrayed and misled too often to break from an ingrained habit of distrust, though his specific feelings toward her certainly shifted in the time she was away. Having changed his own allegiance from one higher power to another in that time, throwing one life, one path into a pool of lava and being gifted a different, better one he's still struggling to live up to, he can't help but admit to a prickly sort of sympathy for what she's been through. Guilt, even -- at least _her_ recent actions in the service of something terrible had been beyond her control.

"We were talking about favorite childhood foods." Cad offers.

Fjord can't help but smile. "Let me guess: you've always liked eating your vegetables."

Cad throws his head back and laughs; Yasha's face also breaks into a smile she hides in the tilt of her head. "Yeah, you caught me. I turned into the disposal system for my older siblings' least favorite foods pretty quickly."

Yasha gets to her feet, brushing her hands over her knees to dislodge the slightly muddy dirt. Fjord waves a hand in her direction. "So what was yours?"

Biting at her lip, she perches on the edge of one of the raised garden beds. Fjord thinks she's pleased he asked. "Baked goods. Anything even a little bit fancy like that. My tribe didn't do much in the way of baking, so any time we got something more refined than coarse brown bread, it was a big deal. What about you?"

It takes Fjord a minute to think about it. "Brownies, probably. Same sort of thing, an indulgence. The places I grew up, I didn't get them often, and they're-- easy. Even in large batches, or if you aren't very good at baking."

Yasha nods, a smile still hovering on her face.

"I'm sure there's a halfway decent brownie recipe to be found somewhere in this city," Cad butts in. "You two could make some together."

Fjord only realizes that he and Yasha have both turned to give Cad the same slightly dubious, slightly incredulous look when he sees Cad looking back and forth between them.

Yasha huffs an almost-laugh under her breath, then shrugs in his direction. "If you find a recipe, Fjord, let me know, and I would be happy to make brownies with you."

"Sure." Fjord shrugs back.

"Good night, you two."

"Good night, Yasha."

"Good night."

The two of them are left behind, goodbyes echoing, until Fjord wanders closer to sit down near the base of the tree, where Cad's lounging. There's a slight chill in the air, and the rain still spatters them now and then, but it's not nearly as bad as it was when he woke up last night.

"How's she doing?"

Cad hums, turning it over in his mind and thinking about his answer for a long time before he responds. "Better, with time. Growing toward the light."

Fjord nods. "I'm glad."

"Me too." Cad leans back against the tree. "Thank you for taking care of cleaning up after dinner."

"A family your size, I know you know how it goes." Fjord raps his knuckles against Cad's knee. "Even when it's just dinner, you take too much on yourself without asking for help."

Caduceus shrugs. "It's no trouble."

Fjord rolls his eyes, and his gaze comes to rest on a pile of clean, folded blankets. He blinks at it for a moment, reorganizing his thoughts. "Caduceus?"

"Hmm?"

"Were you going to come down for bed sometime soon?"

The degree to which this clearly sends Caduceus for a loop would be funny, if Fjord weren't contending with Cad's stubborn embrace of his own suffering in order to avoid inconveniencing anyone else.

"I-- intend to sleep up here."

Fjord just looks at him.

"I'll be fine." When Cad looks away, Fjord doesn't miss the way he scans the rooftop, checking the hatch and making a quick circuit around the outer wall. "The weather's much better tonight."

"But you won't feel safe. Will you?" Cad stays stubbornly silent, but shakes his head. "It's not something you get over with just half a night's rest."

"I'll get over it. It's not something worth bothering anyone."

"What's _bothering_ me is that you _don't feel safe_ when you _sleep_." Fjord says, wrestling his voice back under control when more frustration leaks out at first than he intends. He takes a deep breath. "Did it help? Last night?"

"It did. Thank you--"

"Then let me _continue_ to help."

The expression Cad turns on him is pained. "Fjord, you deserve your privacy, and having your own room here in the Xorhaus is the only place you really get any. I would never-- invite myself to infringe on that."

"You aren't inviting yourself. _I'm_ inviting you. I'm _asking_ you, for my own sake." Fjord takes Cad's hand in both of his. He looks down and studies it: the bony knuckles, the long fingers, the gray skin. "When this place was given to us, I claimed my own room because I was still hiding myself. I never knew when I might talk in my sleep with my real accent, or wake up vomiting saltwater. Taking a room for myself was just one more barrier to help protect my secrets."

"I honestly don't feel a need for much in the way of privacy, normally. It's a frivolity to me, something you grow out of, living on ships. I have nothing to regret about setting it aside for your sake." When he forces himself to look up, Cad's peering at him in that slightly breathtaking way he has, as if every part of Fjord, every word and deed and thought and feeling, is laid out for Caduceus to examine at his leisure. Fjord swallows. "I would prefer your company over having the room to myself any night. Every night."

"Oh." Cad responds, in quiet warm surprise. His thumb strokes slowly over Fjord's knuckles. "Okay."


	3. Chapter 3

A day's ride east of Rosohna, they're already deep in the Penumbra Range. Caleb's hut forms an unnaturally smooth, dark dome tucked up against the rocky outcrop where they chose to make camp.

Even with the rocks, it's less sheltered than Fjord might have hoped for. The more progress they make toward the Glintshore, the heavier a certain strangeness lies over the surrounding landscape like a blanket. The scraggly trees and undergrowth in the area strike him less like cover shielding them from prying eyes and more like an audience themselves, silently watching from all around them.

Fjord's been feeling itchy under his skin ever since they stopped for the night. Knowing he wouldn't be able to get to sleep right away, he jumped on first watch when the time came to claim shifts, and now he and Caduceus are perched on a rock about ten feet from the dome. The bluff rises solid at their backs but colder than Fjord would expect.

He glances over. Caduceus carries his concern a little quieter, but seems to sense at least as much as he does -- better, surely -- the creeping distortion of this land.

"This is an odd place, huh." As quiet as it is, Cad's voice still makes Fjord jump. Sheepish, he lets out a chuckle, scratching at his chin and the stubble just starting to come in at the end of a long day.

"Indeed. I don't think I like it."

"I don't think I like it either."

A chunk of the watch passes in silence. Now and then, he'll see Cad's ears twitch as if he's heard something, or pick up the sound himself of some small thing scuttling through the darkness, but overall, the landscape around them is quiet and still.

"Remember the Arbor Exemplar? Out there in the middle of the Barbed Fields?"

Fjord smiles, crooked, and breathes out an almost-laugh. "Of course. The place the Wildmother first came to me in my dreams and protected me from Uk'otoa? I'll remember it on my deathbed."

"Mmm." Cad nods, sharing a smile of his own. "This landscape is starting to remind me of that area, in a sense. Like something is warping everything here away from its natural state of being."

"Yes. I think you're right." They both let the conversation drop. Fjord finds himself looking toward the dome for a moment, though of course he can't see anything through the opaque outer surface.

His bedroll and Cad's are in there, warming by the remains of the fire until it's time for the two of them to bed down. It's the first night they've spent on the road since he talked Cad into sharing his room in the Xorhaus, and he wonders whether Cad will sleep better or worse in the enclosed dome, with watches running through the night, all the Nein around him and Fjord at his back.

"I asked the Wildmother if She brought me there for me to fix the Barbed Fields."

"I remember. You communed with Her. What did She say?"

"That it was too big to fix." At Fjord's soft huff of amusement, Cad gives him a fleeting grin. "Yeah, you're right. I didn't much like that answer."

"Perhaps once we fix the Grove, that can be your next project."

"Perhaps."

"Even if not-- it is a place that marks profound change, for me. I'd like to go back there and visit it again someday. Pay my respects to the Wildmother." As he stares out into the darkness, his hand drifts to the holy symbol Cad had made for him, his thumb running over the twisting kelp and the strong lines of the anchor. "A pilgrimage, of a sort, I suppose."

"Then we will."

"Oh, 'we' will, will we?" Fjord tries to lift his voice into something teasing; it comes out so nakedly pleased and hopeful he feels his face flush.

"Yeah, we will." Cad's sincerity mixes with confusion, and Fjord shakes his head to himself.

The rest of the watch passes quietly until Jester emerges from the dome, Nott little more than a small upright shadow at her heels, and the four of them swap places.

It's hard to avoid waking anyone else when they're all packed into the limited space of the dome-- Fjord's lost count of the number of times he's been awakened by the rustle of others rousing for watch or settling down to sleep, or even someone tripping over him on their way to take a leak. Still, they all observe the same rituals, shuffling around the camp as quietly as they're able -- some much more able than others -- stubbing toes and patting carefully through gear.

Having stripped off his armor with brisk efficiency, Fjord is stretched out on his bedroll by the time Cad kneels next to him, his own bedroll loose in his hands. He gestures at the space next to Fjord, his words no more than a lilt of breath. Fjord picks up on his meaning -- _May I?_ \-- more through body language and lip reading than the sound of his voice.

Propping himself up on one elbow, he waves a hand at the open space next to him. _By all means._

When Cad lays out his bedroll, it's so close it overlaps Fjord's by several inches. To his further surprise, when Cad's got it spread out to his liking, he lies down facing Fjord, who opens his mouth to speak but manages to shut it again before he actually says anything out loud. Dropping down from his elbow, Fjord raises his eyebrows and stretches out his hand between them, fingers curled just shy of Cad's forearm, motioning with his chin in an invitation for Cad to roll over.

There's a pause where Caduceus shakes his head and blinks at him, then ducks his face down, looking unaccountably _shy_. Instead of rolling over to let Fjord wrap an arm around him and cozy up to his back, Cad takes hold of his other hand and draws it in toward his chest until he can tuck both their hands together just under his chin.

The fingers of his free hand slide up Fjord's arm and gently tug him closer. Without hesitation, Fjord goes.

"Is this all right?" Cad's whisper barely crosses even the scant few inches between them. All Fjord can manage is a nod. They're breathing the same air, legs tangled together with each other's, and Cad's free hand has come to settle on Fjord's chest, right over his heart, where Fjord wears Cad's gift. He slides his arm around Cad's back, splaying his hand out over where he knows the stab wound was.

"Safe?" It's little more than an exhale; the way it feels like his heart has risen to lodge in his throat, Fjord's not actually sure his voice can get any louder at the moment. He feels Cad's small affirming hum in response, a vibration under his knuckles where they curl against Cad's neck.

When Cad closes his eyes, Fjord only allows himself a few moments to stare, gaze flitting from nose to long eyelashes to the slant of his cheekbones before he closes his own eyes and lets himself sink into slumber.

It's Yasha that wakes them -- wakes Fjord, at least. When he lifts up his head from where it's pillowed on Cad's shoulder, Cad's pink eyes meet his and follow him as he moves.

"Good morning," he says, his voice gravelly with sleep, and Fjord can feel it rumble through his own chest. Somehow, over the course of the night, he'd ended up sprawled mostly on top of Caduceus.

"Sorry to wake you. You were sleeping so peacefully." Yasha kneels next to their overlapping bedrolls, her expression rueful. She smiles at them, but Fjord thinks he can see a shadow in her eyes, old pain gentled and blunted with time. "But everyone else is already up, and I was getting worried Jester was about to break out the Thaumaturgy."

"Mm, yep, strong argument there, thank you Yasha." Fjord yawns, scrubbing the sleep out of his eyes. When he rolls over and sits up, Cad follows suit, and Yasha rises from her crouch.

"I'll get some food going in just a minute." Cad says, but, beyond waving Yasha off, doesn't make any immediate motions toward doing so. Around them, the sun has crested over the mountains and the campsite is drenched in red-gold light, cut through with moving shadows and low conversation as the rest of the group gets up and around, putting on their gear and preparing for the day's travel.

"Strange. I'm usually a lighter sleeper." Scratching at his undercut, Fjord laughs, tilting his head to look over at Cad. The soft expression he can see on Cad's face is surely a mirror of his own.

"Thank you," Cad says, and Fjord looks away with a helpless smile, feeling his cheeks grow warm. He reaches out, twining his fingers together with Cad's.

"You'd better go make some breakfast before there's an uprising." Cad squeezes Fjord's hand in his before letting go, and Fjord watches him stand and make his way over to the campfire.

**Author's Note:**

> "Tie your heart at night to mine, love,  
> and both will defeat the darkness  
> like twin drums beating in the forest  
> against the heavy wall of wet leaves."
> 
> "Night crossing: black coal of dream  
> that cuts the thread of earthly orbs  
> with the punctuality of a headlong train  
> that pulls cold stone and shadow endlessly."
> 
> "Love, because of it, tie me to a purer movement,  
> to the grip on life that beats in your breast,  
> with the wings of a submerged swan,"
> 
> "So that our dream might reply  
> to the sky's questioning stars  
> with one key, one door closed to shadow."  
> \- Pablo Neruda


End file.
